Preventing garbage with traditional wrapping

4 Apr 2006 Category: Conscientious Design, Features, Japan, Products

Preventing garbage with traditional wrapping

Furoshiki designed by Yukimasa Okumura

“Thanks, I don’t need a bag!” How many times a day do I have to repeat this sentence? When buying drinks at a convenience store, apples at a supermarket or a pack of gum… in all sorts of occasions we are given plastic bags which we only use for very short moments. The national disposal (in Japan) of these shopping bags alone reaches up to 60 tons every year. As a solution to this escalating garbage problem “Furoshiki” – a square piece of wrapping cloth traditionally used in Japan for carrying things – have been re-thought and re-designed. 30 artists and celebrities have challenged this traditional format of a square cloth to be applied for modern use in the current “FUROSHIKI” exhibition at Creation Gallery G8 in Ginza, Tokyo. Under the theme of “beauty of wrapping” and “beauty of carrying” the designers wrapped what they considered most precious to themselves. Here are my most favorite furoshiki for PingMag.

Written by Chiemi
Translation by Natsumi Yamane

Furoshiki designed by 30 artists and celebrities

Furoshiki have been a part of the Japanese lifestyle for a long time, but - except for a few exeptions - got neglected in the past decades. I remember grannies well, who would bring presents wrapped in crane or cherry blossom patterned Furoshiki! And the excitement of the furoshiki bundle slowly being unwrapped! Excellent!

I never realized the universal use of this cloth before, but this exhibition has become a wonderful opportunity to make me aware of its greatness.

dog wrapped in furoshiki designed by Yukimasa Okumura

Costume Artist Kozue Hibino designed a Furoshiki pattern consisting of many animals. She stated that Furoshiki can not only wrap objects, but maybe even this stricken planet as well. The thing she chose to wrap was “sincerity.” If the amount of garbage can be reduced by using Furoshiki, then it must be sincerity to earth, don’t you think?

Furoshiki designed by Kozue Hibino

sincerity wrapped in her furoshiki

Graphic designer Mitsuo Katsui designed an extravagant Furoshiki which wraps up your lunch-box in a quite elegant way to go with your Hanami - outfit. When wrapping, the corners of the furoshiki cloth meet in opposing colours. Beautiful! If you hurry, you can still impress your friends with the most exciting Sakura-bento to be un-wrapped during your picnic.

Furoshiki designed by Mitsuo Katsui

the tiered lunchbox wrapped in his furoshiki

Similarly, graphic designer Taku Sato came up with a Furoshiki to wrap a box of his own designs: 15 packets of Lotte chewing gum. His furoshiki-pattern was made by gum “stamps”: printing by using the gum’s surfaces. That is so novel! The chewing gum wrapped in it looked just like a work of art. Fantastic!

Here is what he added himself about his design: “Furoshiki is a piece of cloth which requires people’s thoughts, people’s brain, because people need to invent new ways of how to use Furoshiki every time. If we keep relying on existing models (like plastic bags), we will all end up stupid in the end and - stupid people don’t care about the environment. That is how I feel about the multiple use Furoshiki for this project. The chewing gum packaging becomes rubbish after you consume it, so I wanted to turned it into something useful before throwing it away. I came up with stamping a pattern out of gum-waste and that became the pattern of my Furoshiki.”

Furoshiki designed by Taku Sato

the box of chewing gum wrapped in his furoshiki

Architect Kengo Kuma claims that the furoshiki changes its shape depending on what it wraps and that it is basically denying ‘shape.’ His cloth was designed with a print of the texture of shapeless soil. This very cloth then wrapped the same soil and demonstrated his concept of furoshiki.

Furoshiki designed by Kengo Kuma

soil wapped in his furoshiki

Artist and art director Noriyuki Tanaka designed a very stylish furoshiki. His aim is to encourage the use of furoshiki also amongst young and fashionable people. Obviously, furoshiki isn’t for grannies only!

Furoshiki designed by Noriyuki Tanaka

“People are born and live to fall in love, get aged and die!”, says illustrator Akira Uno. His wistful and romantic furoshiki uses black as the main colour to suit dresses for all occasions – from love to death. His interesting furoshiki-theme makes me think of the various dramas in the life of the person using it.

Furoshiki designed by Akira Uno

There were many more unique furoshiki at the exhibition (and some of them could be purchased, so if you are lucky to be in Tokyo right now: here is your chance to get a very special furoshiki to take home)! It was a great chance to rediscover the multi-purpose use of such a simple, traditional item. Go and get one, wrap just about anything, again and again and again - and remember, that every time you do, this huge pile of garbage gets a little smaller. I really hope that the renewed attention on furoshiki shows that designers care and that there are actually lots of great alternatives out there for you to use!

33 Comments

  1. Beauty! No one need a bag!!

    Posted by: Pablo Navarro on April 4th, 2006 at 10:20 pm

  2. Great! I love furoshiki and I hope that they will become popular here (and elsewhere) again.

    Posted by: Richard on April 4th, 2006 at 11:41 pm

  3. I use my scarf as a makeshift furoshiki, when the school gives me all of their extra milk to drink, so I can carry up to ten little cartons home.

    Posted by: Claytonain on April 5th, 2006 at 2:24 pm

  4. hello, please have a look at our site!

    Posted by: rob on April 5th, 2006 at 6:47 pm

  5. Such a great exhibition! I really hope this Back-to-the-roots exhibition will help reduce excessive packaging in Japan.

    Posted by: Nem on April 5th, 2006 at 7:55 pm

  6. I think this is something then entire world should take to heart. It would be nice to see the Japanese government attacking plastic bags instead of old electronics. hehehe…

    Posted by: C. Richardson on April 6th, 2006 at 2:35 pm

  7. how do i subscribe to ping ?

    Posted by: Peter McKenzie Snadden on April 10th, 2006 at 9:35 pm

  8. i travelled from Kyoto to Tokyo to see the exhibition ( before returning to London ) and missed it by 1 day!. such a shame. it looked awesome.

    Posted by: jamie on May 8th, 2006 at 8:31 pm

  9. [...] This whole babywearing revolution is another interesting thing. While in the West babies were usually put down and brought along in a baby buggy, Japan has a long tradition of carrying babies close to the body. In the old days this was done using a Furoshiki and the baby was carried on the back. In Japanese we call this Onbu-Style - piggy back-style. Nowadays, there are lots of different designs for ready made Onbu - which support the baby’s back and make it easier for parents to carry it. 1. Put a baby onbu-himo on the table. 2. Hold strings and lift the baby up. 3.Heave ho! Now tie the strings tightly in the front. 4. Smile! Not too bad, is it? [...]

    Posted by: PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about "Design and Making Things" » Archive » East meets West: Maternity Design on May 22nd, 2006 at 10:18 pm

  10. Furoshiki is a truly ingenious form of gift wrapping. It certainly has inspired other similar forms. Check this one out at:

    http://www.bellenza.com/Elements/ZaarniFavorWrap.htm

    Instead of a square, a circular organza-made fabric is used as wrapping. The round design lends itself to being both versatile and artistic at the same time.

    Posted by: Dahlia on June 8th, 2006 at 2:23 am

  11. [...] For the last year or so I have made a conscious effort to reduce my usage of plastic bags. I found this over at PingMag: “Thanks, I don’t need a bag!” How many times a day do I have to repeat this sentence? When buying drinks at a convenience store, apples at a supermarket or a pack of gum… in all sorts of occasions we are given plastic bags which we only use for very short moments. The national disposal (in Japan) of these shopping bags alone reaches up to 60 tons every year. As a solution to this escalating garbage problem “Furoshiki” – a square piece of wrapping cloth traditionally used in Japan for carrying things – have been re-thought and re-designed. 30 artists and celebrities have challenged this traditional format of a square cloth to be applied for modern use in the current “FUROSHIKI” exhibition at Creation Gallery G8 in Ginza, Tokyo. Under the theme of “beauty of wrapping” and “beauty of carrying” the designers wrapped what they considered most precious to themselves. Here are my most favorite furoshiki for PingMag. [...]

    Posted by: dave5 » Blog Archive » Furoshiki - Preventing Garbage Through Traditional Wrapping on July 9th, 2006 at 9:55 am

  12. Japan always has the most unique, beautiful, rich, things…i’m so used to plastic bags, i probably wouldn’t know what to do with a beautiful piece of cloth like that lol

    Posted by: Jonelle on October 6th, 2006 at 2:50 am

  13. I would luv to stay in touch with artists of this form … in south africa it is only a dream … we have plastic bags littering our streets by the millions.
    i am now doing a Degree in English at UNISA in Pretoria; i studied graphic design for a few years both at high school and university, including one year of textile design and just got so frustrated at the way things work here … it would be an honour to be able to see the work done in Japan. My name is Claudette Macioshek and I live at 327 21st Avenue, Pierneefrant, 0084 Pretoria, South Africa.

    Posted by: claudette macioshek on November 21st, 2006 at 6:31 pm

  14. I love this! I saw it on TV in one of the Japanese short documentaries and I had to research it on the web. I haven’t seen any furoshiki here in the Philippines unless it’s because it’s only now I’ve been made aware of them! I have a feeling I’ll be wrapping Christmas presents with my own version of the furoshiki!

    Posted by: Monette on December 13th, 2006 at 7:38 am

  15. [...] Nun scheint diese alte Packart wieder entdeckt und von höchster Stelle gefördert zu werden. Die verwendeten, quadratischen Tücher können einfach aus einem Stück geeigneten Stoff gemacht werden oder aber man kauft ein entsprechend modisches Accessoir. [...]

    Posted by: greenYourLife - Falten statt Plastik on December 14th, 2006 at 8:44 pm

  16. [...] We already wrote about Furoshiki - the Japanese wrapping cloth - before. This time we introduce a specially padded Furoshiki that acts as a carry case for your laptop. The nice thing about this wrapping cloth is, that it adjusts to the size of the laptop, so you needen’t worry about the model you use. Designed by Japanese couple Keita and Naoyo Seto from 9brand, this sheet is padded with urethane, so your beloved computer will stay well protected wherever you go. [...]

    Posted by: PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about "Design and Making Things" » Archive » 10 last minute Christmas presents on December 22nd, 2006 at 6:02 pm

  17. [...] The Japanese “furoshiki,” or “cloth for the bath,” was first used in the 14th century as a way to wrap one’s clothes while taking a public bath. Over the years, its uses were limited only by imagination and technique. That is, until the plastic bag went big in Japan (and everywhere). As Yuriko Koike, Japan’s Minister of the Environment points out, this seems like a pretty good time to bring wrap back on a global scale. It’s reusable, durable and versatile–and it makes wrapping and carrying stuff a heck of a lot more stylish than your typical sack of polyethylene. Many can be found here, but Koike has released her own version, its gorgeous birds-and-flowers motif on fiber manufactured from recycled PET bottles, apparently available only in Japan for now. She adds the word “mottainai” to indicate how shameful it is to waste something that hasn’t fully been used. And how wonderful it would be to use the furoshiki (or any big, durable and pretty cloth) this holiday as both wrapping and present. [...]

    Posted by: Daily Clerks on December 23rd, 2006 at 12:08 pm

  18. [...] regarding furoshiki [...]

    Posted by: beyond - muse on December 27th, 2006 at 1:19 am

  19. hello, just one question please… i’m french girl and i just saw the “FUROSHIKI” .. to preserve the environement, i would like to do one for my, but what is the size???please. afer i could trought all my plastic bag :-)

    Posted by: sophie on December 29th, 2006 at 2:41 am

  20. The size can be anything. Usually it’s quite big, maybe like 80cm x 80 cm?

    Posted by: chiemi on January 9th, 2007 at 11:38 am

  21. I think I came upon something similar in the Japanese store in EPCOT last spring… and ever since I left Florida, I’d forgotten what it was called, so I never was able to find it. I’ve been using a kerchief I got for free at a funky store in Belmont (it’s called The Hollywood Mirror), outside Chicago for carrying my lunch, to a similar extent, and the idea really suits me. And after reading this article… wow! I’m inspired to do something more — maybe I’ll make my own sometime! (Thanks!!)

    Posted by: Kristine on May 1st, 2007 at 7:29 am

  22. [...] your typical plastic grocery bags. Head on over to Furoshiki for different wrapping techniques and PingMag for some beautiful designs. While these bags are not readily available at your local Wal-Mart, I [...]

    Posted by: Goal Green on July 3rd, 2007 at 1:22 pm

  23. it’s pretty

    but it’s just a 18×18 or 27×27 square piece of cloth…………

    Posted by: karen on August 28th, 2007 at 1:58 pm

  24. furoshiki.com has some great furoshiki

    Posted by: furoshiki on September 21st, 2007 at 12:43 pm

  25. Kristine - I bought my furoshiki, with a tsuki no usagi (rabbit in the moon) design on it, at that Mitsukoshi department store in EPCOT several years ago. So yes, that’s probably what you saw. When I was there, they kept them towards the back of the store, past the incense and the pearl counter, in the smaller room on the left with the books and paper lanterns and such.

    Posted by: M.E. Williams on October 15th, 2007 at 5:51 am

  26. It really is an amazing cloth that you can do so many things with.

    Posted by: furoshiki on December 29th, 2007 at 4:19 am

  27. It really is an amazing cloth that you can do so many things with.

    Posted by: kurye on February 22nd, 2008 at 8:06 am

  28. [...] also came across a really beautiful Furoshiki exhibition in Tokyo called “Preventing garbage with traditional wrapping”. Under the theme of ‘beauty of wrapping’ and ‘beauty of carrying’ 30 [...]

    Posted by: The Art of Giving « on March 27th, 2008 at 3:40 pm

  29. [...] Wrapped bento box Found on Flickr at fabricy goodies Found on Etsy ‘vintage fabric wrap‘ Found at Handmade Parade Found at DIY Life Fond at PingMag [...]

    Posted by: Google Search Result « Wrapping Cloth on August 27th, 2008 at 4:10 am

  30. [...] і не менш красиві картинки [...]

    Posted by: Системний дерибан » » Екологія і наше життя - 3 on May 20th, 2009 at 7:07 pm

  31. [...] DIY life ефектне відео про фуросікі і не менш красиві картинки сумки під фуросікі від модельєрів і ще одне кльове [...]

    Posted by: Системний дерибан » » Фуросікі замість пластикових пакетів on May 20th, 2009 at 8:28 pm

  32. AMAZING! Furoshiki will help heal
    our planet.

    Posted by: Cynthia on July 11th, 2009 at 2:01 pm

  33. [...] Furoshiki or wrapping cloth used in Japan since ancient times, is highly suitable for the modern lifestyle, as more people become environmentally conscious and try to reduce the amount of waste related to use of paper and plastic bags. Furoshiki proves the old adage that anything old can be new again and highlights my personal favorite concept of blending ancient traditions with the modern world. Furoshiki is fashionable, soft & gift giving is always noble (recipients are thrilled). The Furoshiki cloth can be used indefinitely and takes up little space when folded and has a very long recyclable life span. Learn more about Japanese gift wrapping by these origami like diagrams here. Also, see this link on natural materials (straw, leaves) as well as Furoshiki wrapping with fabric, click here. There is also a very nice modern art exhibition about Furoshiki at Ping magazine, a Tokyo emag site about crafting and design (now in my sidebar because its wonderful): click here. [...]

    Posted by: haute idea: furoshiki wrapping « HAUTE NATURE on May 20th, 2010 at 4:02 pm

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